Post by pr1 on Jul 7, 2018 15:30:42 GMT

Black Sun is one of the best episodes and was a big favorite of the cast. Despite the so called "science" in the episode it is strong on characterization and considering this is a TV show, a genuine sense of impending doom. ITC in New York actually hated the episode and were quite vocal about their displeasure to the Andersons.

Post by bodiesstuntdouble on Jul 7, 2018 19:35:31 GMT

Black Sun is one of the best episodes and was a big favorite of the cast. Despite the so called "science" in the episode it is strong on characterization and considering this is a TV show, a genuine sense of impending doom. ITC in New York actually hated the episode and were quite vocal about their displeasure to the Andersons.

With no disrespect to the Americans (and my pal PR1 in particular) it's a pity that Lew Grade at ITC and Gerry Anderson didn't tell them to hush up. What made series one good was a (largely) British cast and (at times) slow paced but well thought out plotlines that were often quite serious and deep. Off the top of my head I don't remember a single "monster" with the honourable exception of "Dragon's Domain" in series one either.

Post by pr1 on Jul 7, 2018 23:54:47 GMT

Unfortunately there was too much American influence on the show even more so with Year Two. One basic problem was the way Science Fiction is regarded here as opposed to the U.K. and Europe. I am making a HUGE generalization but American Science Fiction tends to be Optimistic while on the other side of the Atlantic it tends to Pessimistic. That perception was also a factor particularly in leading to the changes for Year Two.

Post by pr1 on Jul 8, 2018 0:01:00 GMT

Black Sun is one of the best episodes and was a big favorite of the cast. Despite the so called "science" in the episode it is strong on characterization and considering this is a TV show, a genuine sense of impending doom. ITC in New York actually hated the episode and were quite vocal about their displeasure to the Andersons.

With no disrespect to the Americans (and my pal PR1 in particular) it's a pity that Lew Grade at ITC and Gerry Anderson didn't tell them to hush up. What made series one good was a (largely) British cast and (at times) slow paced but well thought out plotlines that were often quite serious and deep. Off the top of my head I don't remember a single "monster" with the honourable exception of "Dragon's Domain" in series one either.

Even as a kid watching the show when it originally aired I liked and appreciated the sense of mystery and questions being unanswered in several Year One episodes. I thought it made the show more believeable because real life doesn't always have nice, clear answers so why should a TV show set in unknown space?

Post by thecraftyleek on Jul 8, 2018 5:52:18 GMT

Unfortunetly there was too much American influence on the show even more so with Year Two. One basic problem was the way Science Fiction is regarded here as opposed to the U.K. and Europe. I am making a HUGE generalization but American Science Fiction tends to be Optimistic while on the other side of the Atlantic it tends to Pessimistic. That perception was also a factor particularly in leading to the changes for Year Two.

Or to put it more simply, Year One is English. Year Two is American.

American optimism vs English pessimism? I’ve never really thought of Space 1999 like that before, but it’s a good hypothesis.

Having lived and worked abroad, I think there is something very credible in your comment.

People in the UK often regard the weather as making them miserable, but I think it is more than that. Once you’ve decided to up and leave a place, your outlook on life tends to improve from ‘We can’t do that, we can’t afford that’ (a pessimistic lack of self-belief, something Welsh people are guilty of) to ‘We can do that, we can afford that,’ a very admirable quality often seen in Americans.

The danger with the latter of course is that some can go too far, living way beyond their means and ultimately crashing out in failure. The 1929 Wall Street Crash is a great example. American over confidence ruined not just the USA but the global economic cycle as well.

I’ve seen it too in the Middle East, with many people who have left home. Dubai is full of ‘optimistic’ British expatriates earning whomping great tax free salaries and not saving a penny, spending it all on renting huge villas, fast cars and worldwide travel. Living for now and ignoring the long-term.

So to Space 1999. It my well have fallen into the same dilemma. Series 2 went way beyond itself, optimism becoming an over-confidence that the fans no longer wanted. The Fred Freiberger curse.

Post by maninasuitcase on Jul 9, 2018 6:42:15 GMT

The gulf in class between S1 and S2 is staggering. Fred "Fryburger" had successfully buried 'Star Trek' after he was left in charge during the underwhelming S3. Why would you hire this berk? There must have been more capable US producers to take on the series?

Getting rid of a quality thesp like Barry Morse was just plain stupid and replacing him with jobbing character actor Tony Anholt was ridiculous. Whatever Barry Morse appeared in he really help make it good. I simply can't recall Barry ever giving a bad performance even when he was in drivel like 'The Adventurer'. Anholt was nothing more than average at best. I think Prentis Hancock was a more impressive actor than Tony Anholt.

And bringing in 'Monster of the Week' was harping back to series like VTTBOTS. There are some good episodes in S2 but they are outnumbered by the average and rubbish ones.

Post by fordcapri on Jul 9, 2018 8:48:03 GMT

The gulf in class between S1 and S2 is staggering. Fred "Fryburger" had successfully buried 'Star Trek' after he was left in charge during the underwhelming S3. Why would you hire this berk? There must have been more capable US producers to take on the series?

Getting rid of a quality thesp like Barry Morse was just plain stupid and replacing him with jobbing character actor Tony Anholt was ridiculous. Whatever Barry Morse appeared in he really help make it good. I simply can't recall Barry ever giving a bad performance even when he was in drivel like 'The Adventurer'. Anholt was nothing more than average at best. I think Prentis Hancock was a more impressive actor than Tony Anholt.

And bringing in 'Monster of the Week' was harping back to series like VTTBOTS. There are some good episodes in S2 but they are outnumbered by the average and rubbish ones.

I suspect that Fred Freiberger was the only one who was 'available' - for obvious reasons! Gerry Anderson immediately distanced himself from Year 2 (making Fred the producer) because he could see how it was going to go! I think Fred was originally going to be Head Writer or whatever.

I think Catherine Schell was really Barry's replacement - Anholt, I'd say, more or less replaced Prentis Hancock. But, yes, Morse was one of the best things about 1999 Year One.

"What are you two, some kind of music hall act?""Whatever we are...""...you made us!""TA-DAA!!"

Post by bodiesstuntdouble on Jul 9, 2018 10:14:48 GMT

Yeah I'd go with that too - (Maya replacing Victor and Tony replacing Paul) the difference is enormous, sadly not in a positive way though.Last night I watched three episodes from S2 - Beta Cloud (quite fun in a way with Dave Prowse as the almost unstoppable monster) , Space Warp (not bad although I felt sorry for the actor playing the Captain of the abandoned spacecraft and credited as "Grasshopper" lol) , and Matter of Balance (Lynne Frederick's character was a whiney pain in the posterior but Stuart Wilson as the villain conveyed a decent level of menace)despite THAT costume .br]Series One 'til the cows come home for me though !

Post by pr1 on Jul 9, 2018 12:32:21 GMT

Gerry Anderson was pressured by ITC New York to hire an American who had previously done a science fiction tv series and Fred Frieberger was available and willing to move to England. When Fred first saw episodes of the show the only thing he found praise worthy were the high production values. He also seems to have been determined to put his own stamp on the show with all the changes he introduced. It also seems that Gerry was willing to go along with changing the show in order to distance it from Sylvia Anderson's influence. Gerry and Sylvia had just gone through an extremely nasty divorce. I do NOT believe that was Gerry's only motivation for making changes. He had bosses to make happy and wanted to keep the show on the air. Unfortunetly Fred was let off the leash when it came to making changes. Gerry Anderson would be highly critical of Year Two, as was Martin Landau, after the show ended production. There was an interview with Fred years later were he made it sound like he had next to nothing to do with SPACE: 1999!

Post by fordcapri on Jul 9, 2018 17:15:24 GMT

Barry Morse once said, of his decision to leave the series: "Thanks. But now I want to go and play with the grown ups!" (Paraphrased but close enough!)

Gerry has said that the American influence on Space: 1999 (especially Year 2) was 'disastrous'.

My take on it is this.

Imagine you have a piece of paper and on that piece of paper it says:

SPACE: 1999. The Moon is blown out of earth's orbit and off into deep space. John Koenig is in command of Moonbase Alpha and Dr Helena Russell is his closest friend and, to one degree or another, love interest.

You then give that piece of paper to two different people; 1) Gerry Anderson and 2) Fred Freiberger and allow them to go off and make their own entirely different versions of that series. The result is pretty much what we got - two totally different series, similar only in name and the names of some of the characters.

Of course, that's not what happened at all... but it might as well have been. Year 1 and Year 2 really do seem like two totally different TV shows!

Year 2 succeeds in what it was trying to do... lower the bar and make a very 'American' TV show full of humour and monsters and silliness. You could well believe that it was made by and for the same people as, say, Lost in Space, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.

Year 1 succeeds in what it was trying to do... raise the bar and make a thoughtful, 'intelligent' British version of an American TV show.

I prefer Year 1 by a light year or two, but if you switch off your brain, Year 2 can be enjoyable too!!!

"What are you two, some kind of music hall act?""Whatever we are...""...you made us!""TA-DAA!!"

Post by pr1 on Jul 9, 2018 19:58:50 GMT

I read that somewhere else that Morse left over money. Sylvia Anderson mentioned, once, that Barry Morse soured on his role and the show fairly quickly but was always a total professional when it came to doing his job. I don't think he wanted to do another year for various reasons and Fred Frieberger didn't want him back any way.

Post by bodiesstuntdouble on Jul 10, 2018 17:17:37 GMT

Regarding Barry Morse and his failure to appear in series two, I've read two explanations (confusingly both originating from him !).The first is that when series two contract negotiations were underway he was offered a 33% salary cut and no chauffeur service to Pinewood - naturally he declined. His agent proposed a counter offer and Production didn't get back to him. After days (weeks ?) of silence he grudgingly accepted the lower offer only to be told his services were no longer required. The second explanation (as has been already mentioned) is that he told Gerry Anderson he wanted to go back to playing with the grown-ups.Either way it was a huge loss to the show.

Post by pr1 on Jul 10, 2018 17:29:14 GMT

I agree that Barry Morse was missed and it was inexcusable that what happened to his character was never mentioned in an episode. An early draft of The Metamorph did contain a brief mention of Victor Bergman dying as the result of a faulty spacesuit.

Post by bodiesstuntdouble on Jul 10, 2018 17:42:23 GMT

Yeah I think that's what sticks in my craw about S2 most of all - Freiburger's contempt for the audience in thinking that no one would notice or even question the disappearance of 2/3'rds of the cast ! and the ludicrous way in which it was never even alluded to in the first new episode (Metamorph)- you could have begun with the (new) crew holding a moments silence for their lost comrades killed in a disastrous Eagle collision, but no , it had to be all nicey nicey and homebrew beer from now on ! Ridiculous...

Post by maninasuitcase on Jul 10, 2018 17:48:20 GMT

My take is that Barry Morse was dealt the same hand that George Sewell got prior to the 1970 shot episodes of 'U.F.O.'. George was deemed not hip or young enough for the American audience and I think "Fryburger" had the same idea with Barry. Burger wanted an action packed sci-fi series and Barry wasn't suited to that sort of show.

Post by pr1 on Jul 10, 2018 17:56:25 GMT

My take is that Barry Morse was dealt the same hand that George Sewell got prior to the 1970 shot episodes of 'U.F.O.'. George was deemed not hip or young enough for the American audience and I think "Fryburger" had the same idea with Barry. Burger wanted an action packed sci-fi series and Barry wasn't suited to that sort of show.

"Fryburger" is on record as telling Gerry Anderson that if you were going to have a professor character it should be a kid with a beard. Fred also thought of the main characters in Year Two being younger than the actors playing them. The Writrer's Notes reprinted in the book The Making of SPACE:1999, state that Koenig is 35, Helena 29 and Maya is 19.

Post by pr1 on Jul 10, 2018 18:14:03 GMT

Fred needed his eyes tested if he thought any of the actors were ever going to pass for those ages. I noticed Bain always had to have a very soft focus camera close up on her face.

I love the fact that Bain's real name is Mildred Fogel.

Even when I read that book back in the '70s I knew Landau and Bain were older than their characters and it made no sense they were suppose to be so much younger. During Year One the Landaus actually had clauses in the contracts specificying how they were each to be photographed.

On a lighter note. Catherine Schell mentioned that Tony Anholt believed he photographed best from one side but she thought he looked fine from any angle and use to like to tease him by standing so the camera couldn't see what he felt was his good side. Seems like a lot of Maya's humor came from Ms Schell.

Post by pr1 on Jul 16, 2018 22:59:25 GMT

I've been thinking it might be time to watch some or all of Year One again. I may decide just to watch select epiodes since I've already seen them all multiple times. Would anyone care to make suggestions on what episodes from Year One to watch?I already watch 'Breakaway' every September 13th.